Whatever Lurks stays in the Dark (3)
by Humox
Summary: Aleks finds himself in a bit of a sticky situation when his bus crashes in the middle of a forest near midnight.


_**Whatever lurks stays in the dark – Chapter 3**_

Time: 01 25 hours. The bus jolted hard. The impact was so great that it both Aleks and James were interrupted mid-sleep. Aleks sees that the bus had crashed into a lamp post, and it seems that the engine of the bus cut off due to the collision. The bus driver got out of his seat, and gestured to all the passengers onboard to remain calm as he dialed a help number on his cellphone to request for aid. James rubbed his face with his hands, and wiped his eyes.

"God, what time is it," James said in a droopy manner.

"It's half past 1 in the morning, can't blame the driver for something like this," Aleks mentioned.

"Ooh…" James cringed.

"I gotta pee."

"Wow, at this time? Come on dude, don't be ridiculous. I'm sure you regret downing all that Noz earlier," Aleks joked.

"God damn it, I REALLY GOTTA GO MAN," with that, James dashed out his seat while keeping his legs close together, kindly requested for the driver to open the door, and charged for the bushes in the forest. The people onboard the bus looked at him for a moment, and giggled hysterically amongst themselves.

_Man, this guy needs to lay off the drinks. _Aleks thought to himself. Aleks got up, approached the driver for the same thing, and left the bus for some fresh air. The forest seemed peculiar, in more ways than one. The uppermost branches were extremely twisted, the roots of it were very uprooted, and the leaves appeared a very pale shade of green. Aleks looked about, waiting for James to get back before he went back to the bus.

"_Hey Aleks, come in here and check this out…"_ James said.

"No man, that's disgusting, I'm not doing you any favours," Aleks replied.

"_No. Not that kind. You've got to see this…"_ James continued.

Aleks sighed, and approached the deep, dark forest.

"What do you want," Aleks said while skillfully trekking across the large surface roots.

Something dark grabbed him.

Time: 04 26 hours. The bus jolted hard. Aleks was thrown out of his seat on impact due to an apparent head on collision with a lamp post. He got himself up as soon as he could, and looked about the bus. No one. Aleks was filled with confusion; He only remembered a couple of events that happened back before he boarded the bus, and nothing else. He scratched his head through his thick hair, looking back and forth on the bus.

"Where'd everyone go?" Aleks asked.

"Yo James! You out there?" Aleks exclaimed.

Aleks scrutinized and rummaged through his bagpack, but was shocked to find out that his camcorder was missing from it. He then looked all over the bus; Everyone's bags was overturned and opened up, and it seemed that someone has already been here before him.

_This is a creepy scene. Kinda reminds me of that one game I did with James…_ Aleks thought.

Aleks' cellphone rang in his pocket, and its loud ,harmonious ringtone echoed throughout the silent forest.

"Shit, I hope nothing heard that," Aleks said as he pulled out his cellphone.

"_Hey Aleks... I'm still in the forest if you're wondering. Come in here…" _A voice that sounds like James said.

"James? Help me dude! Everyone on the bus disappeared!" Aleks stumbled with his words, but it seemed that 'James' had hung up by that point. His cellphone ran out of signal bars by the time, and he didn't get an opportunity to phone up anyone else.

"Just great. For fuck's sake, man," Aleks slid the phone back into his pocket, and went to the front of the bus.

He sat on the driver's seat, using his hands to feel around for any bus logs the driver had possibly left behind. While there, he also tried to restart the engine of the bus, but it couldn't be more clear to Aleks that the bus had no chance of being drivable anymore when the engine did was cough up some smoke. He did find a crushed note under the accelerator, which he picked up and unfolded. It was empty. Both sides of the paper were a clean face of white, which Aleks put into his smaller, more compact sling bag.

Time: 04 40 hours. Aleks kicked the doors of the bus open, and jumped out of the broken windows.  
He was wary of what 'James' had said, about him being in the forest. Aleks just didn't trust that, even though the two have been the best of friends for years now. Not now when they were the only 2 people out here. Aleks paced in a radius around the bus, making sure that he was always within a few metres of the bus, ensuring that he had a quick place to escape to should he need it. He inspected closely at the flickering lamp post. The bent up lamp post remained upright, while having a huge dent where the bus impacted it at. He then surveyed a couple of trees up ahead, but he was interrupted by a voice.

"_Psst. Aleks. In here,"_ a voice like James' relayed from the forest.

"James? What are you doing in there? Get out here and help me find a way out of this damn forest," Aleks replied.

"_No. You enter this forest,"_ James insisted.

Aleks hesitated for a short while. He walked right by a couple of trees, and saw how the last few rays of light seemed to fade off. He stopped about 10 steps in, when he heard rustling of leaves in the branches above him. Aleks took off like a cheetah, and bolted for the light in an instant turn. A dark arm reached out for him, but barely missed him as Aleks emerged from the forest, scratched by branches that were all about him. He panted heavily, and put his back against a lamp post, staring straight into the forest he entered. Nothing. Aleks returned to the bus as soon as he could and camped there for a few minutes before doing anything else.

Time: 05 33 hours. Aleks walked out of the bus to continue where he left off, starting with the bus again. He inspected all about the bus and looked for anything he could use as a weapon after having experienced what he did. He opened up the hood of the bus, then backed off as a cloud of smoke emerged from the concealed engine. For some reason, the smoke that was emitted from the bus seemed to shroud the whole area around Aleks. He got down to a crawling stance to avoid inhaling too much of the hazardous carbon monoxide.

In that instant, an outline appeared in the distance. The man, shrouded in mystery, held a knife in his right arm, a bare fist as the left, and had a ridiculously large rucksack which no ordinary traveler would carry. He got up to his feet, and boarded the bus in silence and stealth.

"Jesus, where the fuck did all this smoke come from?" James coughed profusely, and backed away from the smoke.

"Oh God damn it! I'm back at this fucking bus again. SHIT." James yelled and raged continuously, cussing all about.

Aleks recognized the familiar voice instantly, and got up to look.

"Hey James, is that really you?"

"Aleks? Damn dude, where are we?" 


End file.
